Riverton Central Railroad (Fictional Railroad)
Riverton Central Railroad
Prior History: The city of Orono Maine wanted to expand their city and needed wood to build bridges and other inferstructre and, so the Orono Timber Company was formed by a group of Maine Business men in July of 1898 and surveyed the area just beyond the Penobscot River and, created a logging camp in the spring of 1898 along the Blackman Creek. pushing the logs up stream via the creek proved difficult and inefficient. So the decision was made and the Orono Timber Company decided to Lay railroad tracks from the banks of the Penobscot River to the Orono Logging Camp to the south.
Railroad Construction: The Railroads Construction began in Late May of 1898 along with the construction a Small Camp of workers decided to settle in the area near the river bank and named it Riverton. Construction continued up until mid December when the snow started to fall and construction haulted for Winter and more Rail Were ordered for the coming Spring. During this time the Settlement of Riverton had grown into a shanty town and by Late December the First Saloon was built and the town had a new years celebration for 1899. the coming spring in February 12th the rails were delivered along with a fresh set of tools in the mean time to keep the Orono Timber company afloat horse drawn Wagons were used to move logs to the river bank to be transported via Barg across the the river. and Construction continued in early march as soon as the Snow melted they laid the rest of the 2.5 miles of track out of the 2.2 miles already laid following year. by August 10th 1899 the Railroads construction was complete.
Locomotives & Rolling stock: After the Railroads Completion the Orono Ordered one 0-4-4T Forney Built by Baldwin Locomotive Works the next day and was delivered August 15th along with a extra Truck Sets (10 sets) to build rolling stock. Roster: [Number][Type ][Acquired][Retired][Notes] [ 1 ][0-4-4T][ 1899 ][ 1923 ][gone ] """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" [ 10 ][Combine][ 1899 ][ 1923 ][gone ] [ ][caboose][ ][ ][ ] """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" [ 11 ][Box car][ 1900 ][ 1923 ][Shed ] """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" [ 12 ][Flatcar][ 1899 ][ 1923 ][sold ] [ 13 ][Flatcar][ 1899 ][ 1923 ][gone ] [ 14 ][Flatcar][ 1901 ][ 1923 ][sold ] [ ][/plow ][ ][ 1923 ][ ] """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Riverton History: Riverton by 1901 was a town to be soon incorporated in Maine it had grown exponentially over the 2 year period and by 1910 had a total of 225 residents as taken by the US census of that year. and was incorporated By July 5th 1903 the town had 2 saloons, a general store, train station, store house, barber, doctors office, and a post office along with homes that sprawled the surrounding area. Town Life was quite typical of your early 20th century town up until 1917 when the United states Entered the Great war. with men being sent over in europe the logging company had a shortage of man power up until the end of november where only half of their work force return. work conditions had become harsh and grueling and the workers organized a strike in town square on april 17th 1918 and was promptly shut down by the Orono Timber company who threated to fire apon them if they didnt get back to work. some men were fired upon for not adhering to the strike breakers and most workers quit. and by 1919 Riverton Was losing residents causing some businesses to leave the town and a decrease in rail traffic in the coming months.
The Orono Timber companies Closure: In October 1920 the Orono Timber company was in financial trouble due to not selling as much lumber to the city and else where they Decided to sell off the Riverton Central Railroad to make up for their financial losses and soon in January 7th 1921 filed for bankruptcy and the company was disolved with their assets sold and liquidated.
The Fait of the Railroad: The Railroad was purchased by a group of Riverton Citizens who wanted to keep the railroad alive and had aspirations to somehow redirect the track the neighboring town of Eddington Maine and soon to Bangor to form the Riverton Eddington and Bangor Railroad. with plans being made up and surveying the land for a inexpensive route the Company ran out of money only after extending the line 1.5 miles south west in 1922 and fully abandoned the railroad. and by october 10th 1923 the Riverton Central had sold and scraped everything and quickly disolved.
What Remains: What Remains of riverton isnt much most was destoryed and rotted away by time the town lost its post office by 1928 and the start of the great depression further declined the town and by 1934 Riverton Was no more only the buildings remained until the 1980s when most of the wooden buildings withered away and the store house was set on fire by arsonist and fell apart in 1984 the only thing that marks anything was there is the Maine Forrest and logging museum where the Orono logging camp once was after finding tools and artifcats metal detecting the area only old maps that pre date the 1930s show Riverton and the rail line that once ran there it is lost to time much like the Kennebec Central railroad in Randolph Maine. maybe one day someone will find artifacts of the railroad and make a museum of the railroad that helped build a city.